""Direct experience is the key to getting your foot in the door in theatre. Be prepared to work your way up.""

Hometown
I was born in Greenwich, South-East London and have lived in Brockley most of my adult life.

What do you do?
Front of House Manager at Greenwich Theatre in Greenwich, London

Have you got qualifications?

I have a BA Degree in Media Culture & Communication Technology from the University
Of Greenwich and a Masters Degree in Video Technology and Documentary Film.

What did you do before you worked in theatre?

I worked as a Production Assistant and sometimes Assistant Camera Op, on a freelance basis. I most notably worked for the BBC, Children’s BBC and Endomol UK, the makers of Big Brother.

How did you make the move to working in theatre?

In 2006 I had finished a freelance contract with Endemol UK and was working on a few independent film projects with other filmmakers. I needed some extra income to supplement what I was doing and knew that I wanted to continue to work in the creative industries or a performing arts environment.

I have always loved theatre and the thrill of watching live performance, so theatre seemed the best option. With a little help from getintotheatre.org, I began looking at theatres within my area and applied to what seemed to me to be the most innovative and exciting – Greenwich Theatre – and was immediately employed as a Front of House Usher.

I enjoyed the work so much that I found myself working every shift I could. It was more stable than my previous freelance work and the bonus of being able to watch performances for free was very enticing. I learnt everything I could about every department and after 6 months was promoted to bar manager, and then after some time to Duty Manager. When my manager handed in her resignation just before our very busy pantomime period, she recommended I be considered as a temporary Front of House Manager until a replacement could be found.

I worked long days, learnt as much as I could as quickly as I could about the role and, once the pantomime period was over, I was asked to apply for the role full-time. I had enjoyed it so much, that I did. I went into the interview confident and I think my passion for the role was obvious and I was offered the position! It’s been a year and a half now, and I still love the job as much as I did when I first started.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A storyteller. A filmmaker just telling great stories, like Steven Spielberg!

What do you do all day?
I am responsible for all front of house operations at Greenwich Theatre. What I do day-to-day is quite broad. I recruit and train all front of house staff, with an emphasis on customer care and the highest level of customer service being delivered to our patrons; I also work in conjunction with the Theatre Fire Service to ensure all Front of House staff are trained in health and safety procedures and emergency evacuation.

Since performance times and days tend to fluctuate from week to week, I plan staff rotas at least two weeks in advance to ensure all performances and events have ushers and duty managers assigned to them. I employ a part-time duty manager who assists me with the management of performances and staff, and I liaise with my duty manager when preparing rotas.

Staff hours are recorded weekly and at the end of every week I collate staff hours onto a spreadsheet that is then used by our finance department to pay front of house staff. This also allows me to keep an accurate record of weekly, monthly and seasonal staff costs.

As well as managing the audience aspect of performances, I am also responsible for the small businesses that operates within Greenwich Theatre. We operate all of our own hospitality services, so it is my duty to oversee the operation of the Bar business, The Greenwich Theatre Café’ and catering side of our business and ensure that any merchandise we sell on behalf of visiting companies is properly recorded and cashed.

As an addition to this, it is my responsibility to liaise with all the suppliers of the food and drink we stock in the bar and café’, as well as choose which suppliers to do business with. I devise and maintain a stock-check system for both of these departments as well as personally order all stock on a weekly basis.

Since I’ve been in this role, I have begun business with a new supplier of draught beers for our bar, as well as overseen the installation of draught beer into the bar, which was previously a bottle-only bar. I am similarly responsible for devising the menus for our café’. Since becoming front of house manager, I have completely changed the menu at the Greenwich Theatre Café’ and overseen the introduction of simple, fresh food all made-to-order and prepared fresh on site.

As well as providing a high level of customer care to our audience members, I must also provide a high level of hospitality to artists and visiting companies, providing a point of contact and making sure that productions have everything they need when they arrive.

Liaising with other departments within the theatre is another important part of my job. I attend weekly operations meetings at which I liaise with our Marketing, Box Office, Operations and Education manager and go over everything happening at Greenwich Theatre over the next two weeks; as well as projects we are involved in outside of the theatre.

Greenwich Theatre does not just operate as a theatre; we are routinely involved in numerous charity projects, events in the wider SE London area, and liaise with numerous arts organizations within London to collaborate on different projects.

Because Greenwich Theatre is involved in so many different things, effective communication between our departments is vital, and the operations meeting is a good opportunity to pick up on any potential problems and solve them before they arise. These meetings also help me to plan out what Front of House needs to prepare for over the next few weeks; including whether front of house staff are required outside the building for events taking place elsewhere.

All of these responsibilities relate to my role as front of house manager. However, I also have a number of other responsibilities attached to my role. I am the first point of contact for private hire events within the theatre, such as private parties, catering for hire functions, in my time we’ve catered here for funerals, Graduation Ceremonies, and even both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy!

Other responsibilities I have include the organization of signed and audio-described performances, liaising with schools and other educational groups for our children’s festival and busy pantomime season and working closely with our marketing manager in order to promote these events.

One of the most important aspects of my job is, of course, the duty management of performances and events. Routinely performances are managed between myself and a part-time duty manager, however I duty manager the majority of performances that take place at Greenwich Theatre and elsewhere.

What I do when duty managing a performance tends to depend largely on the requirements of the performance itself and the size of the audience, but there are some set procedures in place that follow the same pattern through the majority of events/performances.

I begin my performance-specific duties usually 2 – 2 ½ hours prior to curtain-up. First I will check any information I have received from the company prior to their arrival, such as running times, whether or not they require us to sell any merchandise on their behalf and what that merchandise may be, any hospitality they have requested for their artists etc…

Most of this information is included in a document called a ‘Technical Rider’, which is a statement of what the performance will require technically and in terms of Front of House, that visiting companies send to us in advance. Armed with this information, I will then proceed to ensure that any hospitality required is set up for the company; this usually involves setting up something in an artists/producers dressing room prior to their arrival.

I will then meet with the company stage manager or producer, welcoming them to Greenwich Theatre and discussing with them and the technical team anything that may not be made completely clear in the technical rider. I may then go over evacuation procedure with the company and explain to them about our procedure for opening the auditorium to the public and giving clearance to our technical team that Front of House is ready for the performance to begin.

If merchandise is to be sold, I then collect this from the company; accurately recording what is being delivered into our charge and exactly how many of each item we are receiving.

At this point, any notifications that may need to be displayed in the front of house area must be prepared – this could be anything from warning audience members about adult content in a performance to signs warning of strobe lighting or other effects that some patrons might find unsettling. Once this is done, the front of house staff will begin to arrive. Cash Floats must be issues to the Bar, The Café and our small retail operation at the kiosk.

Once floats are issued and the appropriate members of staff set about opening up these departments, I have a chance to perform health and safety checks within the building and unlocking certain doors in preparation to receive members of the public. The emphasis is checking every area of the building to make sure that all areas are clean, tidy and safe for members of the public. All toilets must be unlocked and all access areas opened up. I will then proceed to talk to our box office department about the size of the audience we can expect and any access issues we may face that evening.

Our Front of House team on most events will consist of auditorium ushers who are stationed in the auditorium throughout the performance, bar staff who operate our bar throughout the evening, catering staff who operate our café’ throughout the evening and retail sales staff who sell merchandise and/or programs from the kiosk.

Once all staff are present, I chair a briefing with the front of house staff where I relate all relevant information regarding that evening’s performance and assign specific duties. One hour prior to the performance time, the front of house department is opened up to the public and all staff are in position, ready to greet our patrons as they arrive and respond to any queries any of our guests may have. The bar is open and ready to serve a range of beverages and fresh food prepared on-site is available from our café’.

Generally 30 minutes prior to performance start time (although this is negotiable, depending on the needs of the company), I take the auditorium ushers into the auditorium, run a fire drill with them, hold a final briefing to ensure all of them are completely clear on everything happening that evening, and then open the auditorium to the public.

Approximately 5 – 10 minutes prior to performance start time, we play a series of pre-recorded announcements, encouraging patrons to begin finding their seats. It is my responsibility at this point to ensure all audience entering the auditorium knows where they are going and are able to find their seats without difficulty. This can be something of a juggling act, as I must constantly be moving from the downstairs bar/café’ area to the auditorium and back again, keeping an eye on the whole entry process.

Once all audience are seated and I am satisfied that the performance can begin, I stand in front of the audience and welcome them to Greenwich Theatre. I then politely remind people to switch off mobile phones and that photography of the performance is prohibited, and use this opportunity to give the audience any information about the performance that I feel they may need to know.

Once this little announcement is over, I give the technical team clearance to start the performance. This is a crucial part of duty management, as the technical team cannot and will not start the performance until the front of house manager has indicated that it is safe and reasonable to do so.

Once the show begins I remain on duty throughout the evening, managing front of house operations, sometimes preparing for a busy interval break depending on the show, and checking that all departments are ready at all times to respond to patrons or deal with anything that may arise.

After the conclusion of the performance I cash-up all three departments in front of house, bar, café’ and kiosk. I then deposit this cash into a safe to which only I have access, and remain on duty until all staff and all members of the public have left the building; the health and safety or our patrons being my ultimate concern, but also ensuring that the end of their evening is a pleasant and enjoyable one.

What’s the best thing about your job?
Working every day with amazingly creative and talented people. Being a receiving house, we have a wide variety of different people and characters walking through our doors; you get to meet some wonderful characters and no two weeks are the same; I work in a extremely creative environment where you never quite know what’s going to happen next, and that makes it a real pleasure to come to work.

And the worst?
Working in Theatre, especially front of house, you do tend to work very unsociable hours. A lot of my work takes place throughout the evening and I work a lot of weekends too. This can make it a tad more difficult to organize your social life, but it’s an inevitable part of the job that you must accept.

What’s your dream job in theatre?
My dream role would be to rise to the position of Artistic Director, and run a theatre myself. To be able to pick and choose which performances come to my own theatre and have the ability to hunt for new talent and personally give them the opportunity to showcase their work would be amazing.

Got any wise words for someone who wants to be where you are now?
Direct experience is the key to getting your foot in the door in theatre. Apply to be an usher at your local theatre or arts center. Apply to lots of theatres within your area if need be, but be prepared to work your way up.

Once you’ve got your first usher role, you will be in a key position to learn everything about how Front of House Theatre works. Be enthusiastic and work as much as you can. Theatre front of house is all about customer care – and the best way to improve those skills is through constant practice.

Above all, be pro-active and always volunteer to do all and any tasks that arise. Enthusiasm, confidence and a willingness to learn are good points to start from; stick with those and you’ll be running your own front of house department before you know it!